Meet the Parents
by LEAJPEHP
Summary: James and Lily meet each other's parents over the holiday break during their seventh year.


_"James, stop laughing at me," Lily whined. "I understand you think it's silly that I'm so stressed about this, but I'm nervous, and I can't help it."  
James brought his roaring laughter down to a small smile and became as serious as he could. "Okay, okay, I'm sorry love. I am taking you seriously. I just don't think you have anything to worry about. You're wonderful, and I just want you to meet my parents. It won't be an interrogation or an interview. I know you're nervous, because that's who you are, but you don't have a reason to be nervous."  
Her arms were crossed, she looked up at him and said, "Do you promise?"  
He opened his arms, asking for a hug. He wrapped them around her as she took a few steps towards him. "I promise, you have nothing to worry about. You are absolutely perfect. I think so, and my parents will too."  
James rubbed her back and said, "By the way, you haven't allowed me to properly panic about meeting your family."  
Lily stepped back and said, "I didn't realize you wanted to."  
"Well, I'd like to meet them. But it seems like you don't want- are you embarrassed by me? Because I don't know how Muggle stuff works?"  
"No, no, no!" Lily said quickly. "It's more I'm worried about them embarrassing me. My sister, Petunia, she hates everything about magic. My parents would be fine honestly. If anything, they'd just do the cliché stuff like show you baby pictures, which I don't care about. But I don't want Petunia to make you feel unwelcome."  
"I want to meet your family, Lily," James answered evenly. "I won't let your sister scare me off."  
"As long as you're sure," Lily said, still not entirely convinced. "So, I suppose, we'll both go home for a few days, and then instead of me just coming to yours, you can come to my house, and I'll leave with you."  
"Just a couple hours with your family?" James asked.  
"Believe me, it'll be enough. And my parents aren't particularly thrilled that I'll be staying with you, so I doubt they'd let you stay over at my house."  
"Why not?"  
"Muggles are different. My parents are definitely worried that we're having sex. It makes them very uncomfortable."  
"Oh," James said. "I didn't realize. Are they just going to dislike me on the principle of me being your boyfriend, then?"  
"No," Lily reassured him. "They'll like you. I know they will. My mum especially. My dad might be a little wary, but if you can be less handsy than you normally are it'll win you some points."  
James pouted, "You mean I can't touch you?"  
"Well, you see how I'm hanging off you right now? My dad wouldn't like this. He thinks it's too intimate. You can hold my hand, we can sit on the sofa together. Stuff like that. Save the heavy touching for when we're alone in your bedroom," Lily had a mischievous glint in her eyes.  
"Oh, you mean, like this?" James asked, feigning confusion as one hand roamed down to pinch her arse. "Yeah. Let's go over other things you shouldn't do in front of my parents," Lily said. "Wouldn't want to miss anything."_

_After they properly shagged for the last time for a few days, James finished helping Lily pack. They rode the train together. Lily was tucked under James' arm reading a book while he chatted with Sirius and Remus. Peter was staying at Hogwarts for the holidays. Sirius would be going home with James seeing as Potter Manor was in fact his home. Remus would be staying with his family for the duration as there was a full moon of the holiday and he would be preparing for and recovering from it with his family. As they approached the train station Lily put her book down and began going over the plan with James. Her parents were picking her up from the station, so James would at least have to be introduced to them. She reminded him about making sure to shake her dad's hand firmly, but not too firmly, and to make eye contact, but not for long enough that it'd become uncomfortable. _

_He interrupted her, "Lily, you've told me this all at least three times. I promise, it'll be fine."  
Lily nodded, still unconvinced. When they disembarked, James put Lily's trunk on top of his own on a trolley. They said goodbye to Sirius and Remus. Sirius was going to go spend a couple of days with Remus before the full moon and then go to the Potters'. Remus' parents were picking them up._

_Lily took a few deep breaths before she ran through the barrier with James. She spotted her parents immediately and James saw his own in the opposite direction. "I'll go get mine, if you get yours, and we'll meet back here?" James offered. He kissed Lily chastely before turning to walk towards his parents.  
"Mum, Dad," James called out. "Turn around."  
"Oh James!" Euphemia gushed. "We can never seem to be able to find our way through the station." She pulled him into a hug and didn't want to let go, but did so that Fleamont could greet him too. He clapped James on the back and asked, "So where's your bird? I see her trunk here, but don't seem to see her."  
"She's finding her own parents right about now," James answered, spotting her walking towards him, two Muggles in tow. The six of them weren't sure who should speak first, so Lily started, "Mum, Dad, this is my boyfriend, James Potter. James, these are my parents."  
James stuck out his right hand to shake Lily's father's and mother's, "It's very nice to meet you Mr. and Mrs. Evans."  
Lily's father nodded gruffly, still unimpressed by the boy who was dating his daughter, but her mum said, "It is so nice to finally meet you James. Lily's been writing to me about you all term. It's nice to put a face to the name."  
James nodded respectfully, before introducing Lily to his parents, "Mum, Dad, this is Lily Evans, the greatest witch at Hogwarts."  
Lily blushed at James' introduction as she shook his parents' hands. "Hi, it's nice to meet you Mr. and Mrs. Potter."  
"Please, call us Euphemia and Fleamont, Lily. James writes about you so often, we feel like we've known you forever." This only caused Lily to blush deeper, knowing that James talked to his parents about her. _

_Then the parents all shook hands and Euphemia said, "We are so delighted that you're allowing Lily to stay with us for a few days this holiday. We're really looking forward to it."  
Lily's dad didn't have much to say, but her mum said, "She seems really excited about it too. It's hard watching them grow up, but I suppose we have to let them sometime."  
Euphemia nodded, "You are very right. It's so difficult, but you must say it's also rewarding."  
Andrea agreed, "It is. I do miss her most of the year though. My older daughter stayed at home while she went to school, so it was very hard to see Lily go away for most of the year. Of course, I know it's with good reason, but I still miss her."_

_They chatted a few minutes more before parting ways.  
James asked, "Mum, do you mind waiting here a few minutes, just so I can take Lily's trunk for her?"  
Euphemia said, "Not at all, dear. You know we love looking around in here."  
Lily's father said, "No need, I can take the tr-" but her mother cut him off, "Thank you very much James. That's very nice of you. Come on, we've parked the car close to the entrance."_

_Lily walked beside James pushing the trolley, behind her parents.  
"I don't reckon your dad likes me much."  
"Don't worry, you're doing great. He's testing you. He was much worse to Petunia's boyfriend."  
"If you say so," James said, still hesitant.  
"Just don't kiss me on the mouth when you say goodbye, and you'll pass."  
"Can I kiss you at all?"  
"You can kiss my cheek."  
They arrived at the car, and Lily's mum ushered her husband into the car to "Give them a chance to say goodbye, Daniel."  
Once her father unlocked the car, Lily and James heaved her trunk into the boot of the car. Lily closed the boot and leaned against the car.  
"Thank you for your help, love," she said. "I can't wait to see you at Christmas."  
"Me either. Safe drive back, Lily."  
Lily wrapped her arms around James, and when they broke apart, he pecked her cheek. Lily winked at him and waved as he began to push the trolley, still holding his own trunk back to the train station.  
She settled in the backseat of the car.  
She tried to be casual as she asked, "So? What do you think?"  
Her mum started, "Well, he's quite the looker. Very handsome, Lily. He also seems very polite."  
"I think he's handsome, too," Lily agreed. "And yeah, he's grown up quite a bit. What about you dad?"  
"I'm not sure. He had a good handshake, and it was nice of him to bring your trunk out to the car, but there's something I'm not sure about."  
"He's good to me, dad."  
"Then, that's all that matters. You know what else was nice, he wasn't all over you the way Vernon was all over Petunia. Ugh, that was awful."  
Lily nodded, "Yes, he's very respectful. He treats me very well."  
"As he should; you deserve nothing less, Lily. That Snape boy was terrible."  
Although Lily hated that her dad spoke of Severus this way she agreed, "Yes, James is nothing like that. He's always very polite and kind."_

_"Do you think he could come over on Christmas morning, before I go to stay with his family?"  
Her dad gripped the steering wheel tightly, but said, "That should be fine."  
"Thank you, Dad!" Lily said, knowing full well that her father isn't usually able to say no to her. "I can't wait to tell him."_

_Later that evening, Lily was in the armchair in front of the fireplace. Her father sat down on the couch and said, "Hey honey."  
"Hi Dad. What's up?"  
"I just wanted to talk to you about that Potter boy."  
Lily raised an eyebrow, "His name is James, and he's my boyfriend."  
Her father nodded, "Yes, I wanted to talk to you about your boyfriend."  
"What would you like to talk about?"  
"On first impression, I actually like him a lot more than I anticipated."  
"It took me years to like him this much," Lily admitted. "He used to be a tremendous prat."  
"Is that so?"  
"He just was a showoff, and wasn't very kind to Severus."  
"I like him even more," her father chuckled.  
"He used to embarrass me a lot," she saw her father's face, so she quickly added, "But it was because he didn't know how to show he liked me. He used to try to ask me out in front of half the school, that type of thing. Something happened in the last two years, and he grew up a lot. I think deep down I always liked him, but he made it very hard until recently. He's just so wonderful to me, Dad. He reminds me that he loves me all the time, tells me I'm beautiful, he carries my bag at school, he always wants to spend time with me, even if it's just studying in the library."  
"That's nice," her father commented. "I guess I'm more asking what you want from this relationship."  
"I don't know," Lily answered honestly. "I just know that at the moment, James Potter is making me very happy, and making me feel loved."  
"What do his parents do?"  
"His dad is a potioneer, for hair products actually. It's a bit ironic, given how messy James' hair is. I know you didn't like that. He's quite brilliant at it actually. He's made a decent amount of money, so his family does live quite comfortably. Euphemia used to work in the government, but once Fleamont made enough of a killing off of the hair products she started managing the business so he could just focus on production. James isn't the greatest at Potions though."  
"What is he good at?" Her father pressed.  
"He's really excellent at Transfiguration. Much better than I am. He's pretty good at Charms too. Decent at Defense Against the Dark Arts. He is very smart. He really is."  
"You must really like him, to admit that he's better at something than you are."  
Lily smiled, "It's true. I mean he is better at Transfiguration, but I do also really like him."  
"I'm glad. It's just so hard for me to see you growing up, and going out with a boy, and spending time with his family. It's all very new for me, especially since you're my baby."  
"I know, Dad. I'm sorry. It's strange for me too."_

_In the days leading up to Christmas, James and Lily owled back and forth to decide that James would come over around 9:00 and that he would be able to use the Floo network. Naturally, around 8:45, Lily started pacing and compulsively checking to make sure that the area around the fireplace was clear for when James stumbled through it._

_At 9:01, she heard a _whoosh_ and when she turned around, James was standing there, covered in soot. He smiled crookedly at Lily. He remained in place as she waved her wand to rid him of soot. Once he was clean, he stepped towards her, and she took his cloak off. She noticed the parcels in his hands and asked, "Whatcha got there?"  
James smiled and handed her the top one saying, "A present for you, of course. And the other is some fudge that my mum and I made last night. We made way too much and figured that your family might like some."  
Andrea walked in, having heard the commotion of James arriving through the fireplace. "We definitely would like some fudge, James. Thank you very much." She took the box from him, and now that his hands were free, James wrapped his arms around Lily and said, "Merry Christmas, love."  
"Merry Christmas," Lily said back, placing a kiss on his cheek. Then she explained, "Dad's trying to get Petunia to come down. We haven't opened presents yet; we were waiting for you."  
"Oh you didn't have to wait on my account," James felt a little bad.  
Andrea waved him off, "It's fine, James. Your family's taking this one off my hands, we figured we could wait for you."  
"Well thank you, Mrs. Evans."  
"Anyone who brings my daughter a present and brings me fudge can call me Andrea. You two might as well exchange, because it doesn't seem like Petunia's coming down this morning. I'm making pancakes. James would you like some?"  
"Yes, please," was James' reply. _

_Lily said, "I'll be right back. I just want to grab your present from my room."  
"Don't mind your father, Lily. James can go up with you."  
"Oh no," James sputtered. "I wouldn't want to overstep or be rude, I can wait-"  
"You can go up James."  
Lily grabbed his hand and dragged him up the stairs to her bedroom. She rooted around in her closet and pulled out a nicely wrapped present for James.  
She sat on her bed and patted the spot next to her, which James hesitantly accepted.  
Lily noted his nerves and laughed, "James, you can relax. My dad is too busy rowing with Petunia, and besides, Mum said you could come up with me. And we're not doing anything; we're just exchanging presents."  
James relaxed a little and said, "Open yours first."  
Lily unwrapped her gift eagerly and revealed an ornate compact mirror. It was silver and had an emerald in the center. She opened it and around the edge of the mirror read, "Merry first Christmas to the love of my life."_

_She looked up at James and said, "Oh my gosh, thank you so much, James. I love it."  
"I thought you might like a new one since yours got wrecked by the Slytherins."  
"I did, I do. Thank you so much. It is so beautiful, and so thoughtful of you. Really, I don't know what else to say, but now I feel kind of lame about what I got you."  
"I bet it's wonderful," James said as he began peeling back the wrapping paper. He revealed a matching red and gold scarf and hat. "Did you make these?"  
Lily nodded, sheepishly, "I know it's nothing compared to what you've just given me, but yeah, I made them. I thought we might just keep gifts simple as it's our first Christmas, but I should have said something, because now you've given me this beautiful mirror, and-"  
"Shhh, I love them," James soothed. "I love that you made these by hand. There is nothing simple about that."  
"You really like it?" Lily asked.  
"Of course I do. Thank you so much. I'll be wearing these all winter."_

_In the silence, Lily could still hear her father and sister rowing. "Well, they're still busy, and we haven't properly snogged in about six days, so-"  
"Say no more," James cut her off. He pulled her onto his lap and kissed her deeply. Lily wound her hands in James' hair, sighing as he kissed her jaw.  
"God, I love snogging you," Lily whispered.  
James grabbed her bum playfully, earning him a small smack on the arm. "Don't get too carried away, Potter. We should actually go downstairs to see if Mum's got pancakes yet."_

_James pouted at her, and Lily said, "But I suppose we can wait a few more minutes."  
Lily laid out on her bed and pulled James over her. He smiled from above her and leaned down to kiss her softly. After a few minutes, he settled beside her and she rested her head on his chest.  
"Merry Christmas, love," Lily whispered. "I really love my present. I can't even begin to explain how much. And, the inscription is lovely as well."  
"I'm glad you like it, Lily," James answered, running a hand through her hair. "Just so you know, I love you so much."  
"I heard a rumor," Lily chuckled.  
"I love my gifts too. I also have a feeling my mum is going to be impressed."  
"I don't have anything for your parents," Lily said nervously. "Your mum was nice to make the fudge for my parents. I can't believe that I didn't think to get them anything."  
"Easy there," James soothed. "They won't care. Besides, they're just excited to get to know you. I've been mad about you forever."  
"No pressure, then," Lily said.  
James grinned, "None at all. I keep telling you, they'll love you."_

_"Breakfast is ready!" Andrea called up the stairs.  
"Be right down, Mum," Lily called back, pulling herself into a sitting position. She looked in the mirror to check that she didn't look too rumpled. She smoothed her sweater and noticed James in the mirror, watching her from her bed. She smiled shyly as he rose and came to stand beside her. She turned to face him and found he looked perfectly presentable despite their snogging session. Then she noticed his glasses were slightly askew, reached up and adjusted them. _

_Lily held James' hand as she led them down the stairs and to the kitchen where they saw that Lily's dad had dragged Petunia out of her room, to sit with her arms crossed at the kitchen table as her mother put two pancakes on her plate._

_"I don't want to eat while he's around," Petunia stated bluntly. "I don't want him to mess with my food."  
"Shove off, Petunia," Lily spat. "He's not going to do anything."  
"How do you know? Did you already do something to it?"  
"Of course not!" Lily exclaimed. "No one has any interest in doing anything to your bloody pancakes!"  
James, who had taken a seat as far away from Petunia as possible, shifted, obviously uncomfortable that Lily was fighting with her sister on his account. Lily saw this out of the corner of her eye and felt bad, so she calmly said, "There is nothing wrong with your food Petunia. Eat it or don't."_

_She took a seat next to James and squeezed his hand as a lame apology. She knew she would give him a proper apology later. Lily's parents sat down on the opposite side of the table from James and Lily. Her father attempted to get to know James better by asking him about Quidditch, but James found himself regularly interrupted by Petunia scoffing or saying that football was better. Lily snapped, "Petunia, if you're going to be a hag, bugger off and go upstairs."_

_"Lily," her mother said warningly, but James could tell that she was also fatigued by this arguing between the two siblings.  
"What?" Lily asked.  
"It's Christmas, let's not get into this today."  
"Petunia is being rude to James, and I don't appreciate it."  
"You're not being much better, dear."_

_That seemed to stop Lily from lashing out at Petunia for the remainder of breakfast. After they finished eating, Lily started clearing the table and James stood to help, but Lily told him he didn't have to. He said he wanted to, and began washing the dishes she put in the sink to make his point. Lily stood on her toes to kiss his cheek and said, "Thank you. I promise I'll apologize to you later. I wasn't very nice this morning."  
James shrugged and said, "It's okay. I'm happy-"  
He was interrupted by the doorbell ringing. Petunia jumped up to go answer it, a little too quickly, Lily noticed. A knot formed in her stomach, as she panicked and realized Petunia had invited Vernon over. In a quiet voice she said, "James, Petunia has just invited her boyfriend over. He knows nothing about magic, so please do not say anything about our world at all. I am begging you."  
"My lips are sealed," James replied easily. Lily noticed his wand wasn't covered and hastily yanked his sweater down over it.  
James looked around and noted Lily's parents weren't within earshot, so he teased, "I like it better when you yank my shirt off."  
Lily rolled her eyes at him and began drying the dishes he had washed. She was honestly impressed that he could do this, considering he grew up with magic and house elves. Then, she remembered that when she asked this on previous occasions, he pointed out that many of his detentions were cleaning things the Muggle way. As they worked, Lily told James that Vernon was under the impression that she attended a boarding school in Scotland, and that it was inherently unmagical. Then she started babbling nervously about other things. James could tell she was spiraling. In the back of his mind, he was wondering how nervous she would be meeting his family when she was already a wreck with her own. _

_He saw her parents had entered the sitting room, and could not see him and Lily, so he wrapped his arms around her, rested his chin on her shoulder and whispered in her ear, "Love, I promise you, I can act like a Muggle for a little bit. Please, don't be stressed about this."  
Lily snuggled against his chest and tried to breathe evenly. "I swear, I will make this up to you. I never thought this would go so poorly."  
"It's not going poorly, Lily."  
"Liar."  
"Let's just go join them. The sooner we do, the sooner we can leave right?"  
Lily cracked a smile and exhaled one final time before accepting James' hand to lead him to the sitting room._

_After an awkward introduction, James and Lily settled on the loveseat together, James' arm over her shoulders. He watched as the Evans and Vernon exchanged gifts. Lily received a silver watch from her parents. Petunia seemed confused, as she received that gift when she was 18, not 17 like Lily was. James and Lily both knew that it was her parents' way of acknowledging that as a witch, Lily was of age at 17, not 18, like in the Muggle world. Andrea just said, "Well, Lily turns 18 next month, while she's away at school, so we wanted to give it to her in person." Lily knew it was just to appease Petunia._

_James watched Lily as she clasped the watch around her wrist and listened to her thank her parents, "It is so nice! Thank you, Mum and Dad." He held her hand as he looked at the small band and thought about the watch his parents had given him when he came of age. His was gold, and according to his father, a family heirloom. He hadn't worn it to Lily's because it was a magical watch with moons and stars on it that may have looked odd to any Muggles._

_Once the family was done exchanging, Lily noticed Vernon nervously patting his pocket, as though he was making sure something was still there. As he stood and shifted, Lily made out the outline of a square box and instantly knew what was coming next.  
"Mr. and Mrs. Evans, I am so happy that you've allowed me over today. I have been looking forward to this for a long time, and am glad to be able to share this moment with you." He turned to Petunia, "Petunia, I have so enjoyed spending time with you, and I appreciate your approach to life. For these reasons, and others," he got down on one knee. "I would like to ask you, if you would do me the honor of marrying me?"  
Petunia squealed with delight and couldn't say "yes!" fast enough. Vernon jammed the ring on her finger and Petunia kissed him. The kiss seemed very intimate and Lily felt uncomfortable, so she looked anywhere but at her sister and the portly man, who was now her fiancé.  
She chanced a glance at James and saw he truly had no idea what to do. She also looked at her parents, who didn't seem completely thrilled. Her father actually looked rather mad, and Lily sensed that Vernon hadn't had the sense to ask her father before he proposed. Her mother looked as though she might cry.  
After obligatory congratulations and tea, Petunia and Vernon left, most likely to go inform his parents of the good news. James hadn't said much, so when Lily's parents went upstairs, Lily assured James, "I promise, you don't have to propose next Christmas."  
This earned her a laugh, and James pointed out, "Your father didn't look very happy."  
"I don't think he was. I have a feeling Vernon didn't ask for permission to ask for her hand in marriage before he did this. Do you want to go soon?"  
"If that's what you'd like."  
"Yeah, I want to go. Let's just wait for my parents to come back down. I have a feeling they're trying to figure out what just happened. Can we talk?"  
"Of course, Lil'," James answered. Lily shifted so that she was facing James, rather than just sitting next to him.  
"I am so sorry for how I acted this morning. Petunia just knows how to rile me up more than anyone. I know I made you uncomfortable, and I never meant to do that to you. You're really too good for putting up with that. I didn't think you'd see that side of me so soon. I really didn't. I'm really sorry."  
"You don't have to apologize Lily. I completely understand how this could be difficult for you. I can understand why you didn't want me to come, but I am glad you let me."  
"You're not mad?"  
"Of course I'm not mad. I'd be pretty awful if I got mad at you for someone else upsetting you. Maybe you were a little dramatic," he was cut off by Lily punching his arm. Then he continued, "But, I knew you were defending me and that is honestly just too attractive."  
"I love you," Lily said simply.  
"I love you too," James answered, placing a kiss on her nose.  
"Again, I'm really sorry."  
"Please, don't be sorry. You're the best."  
"I hate you," Lily said.  
James feigned hurt and said, "Now, that wasn't nice. You'll definitely need to apologize for that."  
"I'm sorry, baby," Lily said.  
"That's definitely not enough."  
Lily pouted her lips and asked, "Did you have something in mind?"  
James leaned forward and whispered in her ear, "I was thinking tonight. When we're alone in my bedroom. I'll give you something to be sorry about."_

_Lily felt herself blushing, but she nodded quickly, "I suppose that's only fair."  
"Good," James said, pulling her into his side and placing a sweet kiss to her temple. "By the way, I have another present for you."  
"James, your dick isn't a present. It's already mine."  
James took offense and said, "First of all, you love my dick. Second of all, that's not what I was talking about. I actually have another present for you. I left it at home, so you could open when Sirius, my parents and I do."  
"I keep telling me that you're too sweet to me. Thank you."  
"You're welcome."  
"Can you help me get my trunk?" Lily asked._

_By the time they had her trunk downstairs, her parents had also emerged and were ready to say goodbye to Lily until she graduated. When she turned around from her parents, she saw James had put on the scarf she made him. She smiled at him and he grinned back.  
"We can floo if you want, but we could Apparate back," James offered.  
"Why didn't you Apparate here then?" Lily asked, confused.  
"I'm really quite terrible at Apparating to places I haven't been before."  
"Yeah, let's Apparate. It'll be easier than forcing the trunk into the fireplace."_

_Lily bid her parents farewell, one final time and then she and James were in front of Potter Manor. She had heard it was tremendous, but she was not at all prepared for the reality of that description. James had taken about six steps before he realized Lily was no longer at his side. He looked back at her and saw her awestruck look. He levitated the trunk, no longer wanting to carry it, and walked back to Lily.  
"Alright, Evans?" he asked.  
She stared at the mansion as she answered, "I had absolutely no idea that you lived in something like this. I've heard Sirius talk about it, but never did he let on about how extravagant it was."  
James ran his hand through his hair, somewhat embarrassed.  
"Yeah, well I mean," he paused. "There's really no good way to say this. You know I'm pureblood. It kind of just so happens that my family accumulated a lot of wealth as a result of that."  
"I suppose," Lily mused. "I wish you'd given me more of a warning. Please, you must think my family lives in a shed."  
"No, no, no," James said hurriedly. "Believe me Lily, I don't think that this is normal. I am fully aware of how excessive and unnecessary it is. I don't have any control over where my parents decided to raise me." He felt lame as he finished his explanation that wasn't really an explanation.  
Lily had finally turned to look at him and saw that he was again, for at least the third time that day, uncomfortable.  
"I didn't mean it like that James. I know that you're not-" She tried to say.  
"Can we talk about this later? I haven't seen my parents yet today," he interrupted.  
"Yeah, yeah, of course," Lily sputtered. Great, now James was mad at her._

_He grabbed her hand and said, "I'm not mad at you, you know."  
"How did you know I was thinking that?" Lily asked.  
"I can read your face very well," he shrugged.  
Lily looked at the toe of her shoe.  
"We'll talk about it later, yeah?" James said. "It's Christmas; I don't want to spoil anything."  
"I've already done that," Lily answered glumly.  
"You haven't spoiled anything," James responded as they walked towards the front door of the almost literal castle. "Although, I will admit, if you keep this up, you'll be dangerously close to wrecking our first Christmas together."  
When Lily turned to look at him, he was smiling at her, letting her know he was just teasing.  
"I'm sorry," she said, squeezing his hand.  
"It's alright, love. Just do me a favor, and get a smile on your face before you meet my parents."_


End file.
